


Key To My Heart

by superpixie42



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Home Buying, Kitchen Sex, Porn with Feelings, and also the fact I gave them a weird American-Japanese hybrid house, the writer rents in america so please excuse homebuying inaccuracies, updated and now includes an epilogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:07:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28575000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superpixie42/pseuds/superpixie42
Summary: When Inuyasha's childhood home goes on the market he will do anything he can to buy it. Including, but not limited to, getting his best friend Kagome to pose as his wife in an attempt to emotionally sway the seller. But will the seller be the only one whose heartstrings get pulled by the charade?UPDATED AND NOW INCLUDES CHAPTER 3: EPILOGUE TITLED "REDECORATING"
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Comments: 76
Kudos: 163
Collections: Why Hello There Significant Other of Mine





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HorribleHowl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorribleHowl/gifts).



> Written in honor of HorribleHowl's birthday 💙

"Thank you so much for helping me out. I don't know how I'd pass this class without you!"

Kagome Higurashi was down on her haunches, pressed against the hallway with a notebook balancing on one knee and her tablet on the other. As she frantically typed the answers from Inuyasha's notebook into her online quiz, Inuyasha couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia.

"Some things never change, huh, Kagome? I'm pretty sure you said the same thing about junior year English...and senior year history... and--"

"Yeah, yeah; poindexter I get it," she grumbled with no real spite in her voice. "You've saved my neck more times that I ever want to count. Happy now?" She stuck out her tongue at him for good measure before returning to her quiz.

Inuyasha was happy now, as a matter of fact. All through high school they'd been best friends-- only friend for him, favorite friend for her-- and they had at least two classes together every year. When Kagome had announced she would be staying in town and attending their local community college so she could live at home and stay near family, Inuyasha immediately ditched his plans to run away to college in the city. Without Kagome with him, there wouldn’t have been anything to keep him in their little overpriced suburb. But if she was staying? Hell he’d be an idiot to give up the only consistently good thing in his life since his parents’ death. He turned in his application for the Shikon College Culinary Academy the same day.

Since he was in the culinary program and Kagome was working towards her CPA certifications, they didn’t have many opportunities for courses together anymore. But when they did, Inuyasha was more than happy to show up at 6am to help her finish a quiz due before her 8am lecture.

Kagome broke him out of his walk down memory lane with a question, half garbled from the pencil in her mouth, “What do I owe you for this one? Name it, it’s yours!”

He barked out a small laugh. The first time he’d helped her with an exam she’d paid him in cup-noodle. By the time they reached sophomore year, she stopped asking him for help and would just show up at his foster home: take-out in one hand and a bundle of overdue assignments in the other. He was about to answer that a pack of spicy chicken ramen sounded great right now- but he stopped. There had actually been something on his mind for weeks now that he really needed to talk to her about, he just didn’t know how. Maybe this was the opportunity he needed. Afterall, time was going to run out and he’d always regret it if he didn’t take this chance.

“Actually,” he started, his ears lowering slightly with nervousness, “no noodles this time.”

Kagome turned away from her quiz to look at him, one eyebrow raised in a questioning expression.

“What are you doing tomorrow at 4?” he asked her.

She thought for a moment, “Nothing- why?”

Inuyasha dug through his backpack and brought out a pen and a post-it. He scribbled down an address, “Can you meet me here at 4 then?” He looked her up and down, quickly noting her faded leggings and oversized sweater that had become her usual early morning wear. “And wear something...smart.”

He stuck the post-it to her tablet and quickly gathered up his things, clearly getting ready to leave. “I just remembered an errand I gotta run- I’ll see you tomorrow though ‘kay?”

He was down the hall and out the door before Kagome had a chance to reply.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Inuyasha sat in his car and waited for Kagome to pull up. It was already 4:07 and he was starting to lose his cool -- what little he had anyway. This was stupid. It was a stupid idea to reach a stupid dream and he shouldn't have ask Kagome to help anyway. He slouched, scowling down at his hands that were becoming white knuckled against the steering wheel. He jumped when Kagome knocked on the passenger side window. He unlocked the door for her and she slid in smoothly, tucking the skirt of her navy dress under her thighs as she settled into the seat. She sat silently for a moment before breaking the awkward tension.

"So," she started, pulling a piece of hair behind her ear, "You gonna tell me what we're doing in a residential neighborhood buried so deep back in the suburbs the HOA probably tells you what kind of toilet you can install, sitting in your car like a bunch of creepers?"

He almost laughed, except shit he hadn't even thought of the HOA. Was there one? He didn't even know. What else hadn't he considered?

"Earth to Inuyasha," Kagome's hand waved in front of his face, pulling him back. "What's with you? You're being weird."

He took a deep breath and pulled his hand from the wheel and pointed to the cream colored house at the end of the dead end street. It was smaller than a lot of the other houses in the neighborhood and looked a little older; it had a bright blue porch and matching shutters that had faded from decades in the sun. It was an older ranch style, not the newer stone cascade and vaulted ceiling style of most of the houses they'd driven past to get here. The front yard was lush but a little overgrown, and right in the middle was a bright red For Sale By Owner sign.

"I need you to help me convince the lady there to sell me the house."

"You want me to help you con someone?"

"What? No, I'm gonna pay her obnoxious asking price."

"What? How!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, this really wasn't the point he was trying to get at. "I'm cashing in my inheritance. It'll take every penny for the down payment but it'll be enough."

"Wait," she shook her head at him, "you can't do that you pay for classes with that money. You're...you're dropping out to buy a house?" Her voice wavered and she didn't sound chastising as much as, well, sad.

"Would you knock it off," he snapped, "don't put words in my mouth. I'm not dropping out… I'll get a roommate or another job or something-"

"A roommate? You hate people. And anyway," she continued, "why a house when you live in a studio apartment?"

"This is important can we just-"

"It's not even a fancy house! And it's so far from the city, didn't you want to get closer, not--"

"It was our house, damn it!"

Kagome's jaw shut with an audible click. She knew his history, or enough of it to know why he didn't bring it up. He had a unique way of speaking about his past: so deeply compartmentalized that it probably didn’t make any sense to anyone other than himself and Kagome. If something was “ours” he meant his and his mother’s. When she died when he was 14 everything became “theirs” because everything he had belonged to whichever foster parent he had that month, and it would be gone as soon as they moved him to another placement. Then when he turned 18, everything was “his”- he fought tooth and nail for everything he had and he wasn’t going to let anyone take credit for his success or his failures ever again.

"This was our house. When mom died…" He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into the palm of his hand. "When she died, her dad went through the house and cleared out everything. Brought a suitcase full of my clothes to the hospital and left me there until social services picked me up. I had nothing of hers; no photos, nothing. This lady has owned the house for the last ten years. There might be some of Mom's stuff still there-- even if it's just that horrible yellow paint she put in the kitchen."

Kagome was silent for several moments, letting him put himself back together before she started talking again. It was one of the thousands of reasons why he loved her; she knew how to talk to him in a way nobody else had the patience for.

"If you have the money, why do you need me?" she finally asked.

He growled in frustration, "She only wants to sell to a nice little family- which doesn't make any fuckin' sense to me but whatever. So I…" he gulped a little. He knew Kagome would say yes but his stomach was still doing flip flops, preparing itself for a "no". "So I told her I was married but my wife was at work and we'd come together today."

"Your wife?"

"...yeah."

“So, you want me to go in there and look at the house and convince this little old lady that we’re married?”

“That’s the idea.”

Kagome blinked a few times then giggled a little which wasn't helping his stomach settle at all. "I can be your wife for a little while, yeah."

Inuyasha thought his heart stopped for a minute hearing that. He knew what she meant in context but still, hearing it was really fucking nice.

"I do have one question though," she said, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. He killed the engine to stop the heater. It was a warm afternoon for October and she was probably overheating as they sat there.

"Shoot."

"Why me?"

Inuyasha considered his answer carefully. Because I think you're my soulmate? Because an afternoon of make-believe is the closest I'm ever going to get? No, none of those would do.

"Because I only know two women and Sango isn't enough of a sap to sell it."

Perfect.

Her face fell flat, "Thanks for that."

She rolled her eyes and got out of the car, stopping to fix her hair in the window reflection. She settled her micro-backpack and checked herself one more time before walking away from the car and towards the house. Inuyasha clambered out from behind the wheel, jogging to catch up with her. She’d already knocked on the door when Inuyasha joined her on the tiny porch.

As soon as the door opened he felt the wave of emotion crash into him. Even from the genkan he could tell not a lot had changed. He could see the same worn-down tan carpet was still down in the entryway and the living room, the little coat alcove was still next to the door, but the smells were all wrong. His mother’s home smelt like burnt sugar and the baking soda she poured all over the carpet before she vacuumed. This lady, this stranger, had made the house smell like too much bleach and fake lavender. It was fine, though, once Kagome dazzled her with their fake marital bliss, the house would be his and he could get it back to smelling like it should. He just had to get through this showing with his emotions in check.

“Hi- I’m Kagome and I believe you already met my husband, Inuyasha.”

Oh, sentences like that we're not going to help him keep it together.

The lady, Ichika, welcomed them in and immediately began proding Kagome for all the kinds of details an old auntie would want. How long have you been married? Where did you meet? Any little ones yet? To Inuyasha’s immense relief Kagome answered each question with zero hesitation- and even managed to laugh at what Inuyasha thought was a horribly invasive question about when they would be having “little ones”. While Kagome and Ichika prattled on, Inuyasha made a beeline for the kitchen. This had been where he and his mom spent most of their time. His chest tightened when he saw that, yes, the horrible custard yellow was still up on all four walls. They’d painted it when he was seven and he was adamant that everything should be red- his mom disagreed. But she did compromise and put up red and yellow floral curtains above the sink. Those, though, were gone, and replaced with simple white lacie things.

The tapping of Kagome’s boots on the tile brought him back to his senses. He turned to face her as she came in with Ichika right behind her.

“Kitchen looks good,” he said. Based on her expression, she caught his full meaning. She nodded, then wandered around opening cabinets and talking about kitchen appliances neither of them owned, buying him another minute to soak up as many memories as he could before moving down the hall to the bedrooms.

The first of the two bedrooms was the master. When his mother had lived in it, the room was almost entirely bed. His father had been over six-and-a-half feet tall, and their huge custom four-poster bed left very little space for anything else in the room. When he’d died, his mother had been forced to move out of their condo but she refused to get rid of anything that was his: not his clothes, not the bed, none of it. As a kid, when Inuyasha was upset he would hide in the closet and bury himself in a pile of his dad’s old clothes. He didn’t have any real memories of the man, but his Inu-Instincts still found comfort in the olfactory imprints.

Now, with Ichika’s entirely reasonable Queen size bed pushed up against one wall, the room looked huge. He must have been standing there silently for an awkwardly long period of time, because suddenly he felt Kagome pulling him back into the hall to peek into the water closet and then the washroom. Her hand was still in his when they opened the last door- his bedroom.

Opening the door, Inuyasha was oddly crushed to see that it was no longer a bedroom, but now a small home office. He knew it was unreasonable to hope to see his dresser or his posters or literally anything of his in the space; but still, he'd hoped for something of his to have survived. He stepped inside, still holding Kagome's hand, and sniffed- even his scent was gone and was replaced by some kind of artificial woodsy waxy candle smell.

"It's small," came Ichika's voice, "but it will make a lovely nursery."

The word stabbed into his ear and traveled directly to his heart. He'd always wanted kids, dozens of them, his own and adopted. His own little village if he could manage it. But it had always been an abstract concept: fatherhood. But now, in this moment, in this space, his vision was flooded with images of Kagome with a baby on her hip, playing with floppy puppy ears lost in a sea of thick black hair like their mother. He blinked away the image only for it to be replaced with a heavily pregnant Kagome, sitting on the floor and using her distended stomach to fold tiny baby clothes.

His head snapped down to Kagome, the real Kagome, who in this moment was blushing and talking as if them having pups was a real possibility, listing off baby names as if this was a conversation they'd had a million times. Kagome was the most honest person he'd ever met and she was lying through her teeth for him. Standing there, surrounded by the enormity of what she was doing for him, he'd never been more compelled to kiss her. Kagome looked up at him and said something his brain simply couldn't process- he was too drunk with the need to kiss her. But not just a simple kiss. She deserved a kiss to thank her for understanding him, to show her how much he appreciated not just this afternoon, but the last five years. Did she have any idea how much her friendship meant to him? She was the most important person in his life. He could never tell her, could never pull his head out of his ass long enough to risk losing what they had. He was so terrible with words he would absolutely fuck it up and then not only would he and Kagome not have any kids, they wouldn't even be friends anymore.

But surely, under the guise of selling the bit, he could take this one perfect moment and give her the kiss he'd been dreaming of. He squeezed her right hand in his and brought his left to hook under her chin. She stopped speaking mid-sentence, her eyes meeting him in confusion. He lifted her face towards him, leaned forward, and he kissed her. In that moment he would have sworn this was real. She was warm, and soft, and she was kissing him back with so much love and gentleness. She tasted like spiced tea, her lips felt like velvet, and her nose fit so perfectly next to his you would think she was made just for him to kiss.

Eventually he remembered they needed to breathe. He pulled away, smiling at the dazed look in Kagome's eyes when they opened. He cleared his throat, also now remembering they had an audience. He stepped away from Kagome, needing the space to remind himself that this was a one-time kiss, and let go of her hand.

"We'll take it," he said, his voice thick with emotion. He turned away and followed Ichiko down the hall, leaving Kagome alone in the office/ former bedroom. A room that, now that the idea had been put in his head, Inuyasha could see as nothing other than a nursery for the children he and Kagome would never have.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome sat in her car outside the main building on campus. She should’ve been going to her intro to economics class, but she just couldn't bring herself to get out of the car. This used to be her favorite course - the only one she shared with Inuyasha- but it'd been two weeks since he showed up for it. Two weeks since she'd seen him at all. Two weeks since the best kiss of her entire life. Two weeks since she felt his broad hand on her face, pulling her in for the most passionate, perfect, wonderful, and entirely staged kiss. A lie signed, sealed, and delivered with such perfect false sincerity she felt like she was drowning.

She shouldn't have agreed to it. She'd been in love with her best friend for years now and always managed to keep herself above water. He wasn't interested and that was fine- it was probably for the better anyway. He didn't need her family issues piled on top of his own. He didn't need her insecurities and her constant babbling any more than he already dealt with. He didn't date- he'd made that abundantly clear more than once - and so being his best friend was as much as she was ever going to get. And that was fine! Really!

Or, it had been.

Now?

Now, all she could think about was filling that house with memories: cooking together, chasing the cat up and down the hallway, repainting that second bedroom in bright primary colors for a whole litter of kids. It has been fun to pretend that was their future for a little while. It had given her warm fuzzies all the way to her toes to think that maybe, just maybe, Inuyasha could feel the same way. But he didn't and his radio silence screamed that louder than anything.

Inuyasha was never great with words, but in the years she'd known him, she'd learned that he had more tells than an amateur poker contest-- mostly thanks to his ears. She knew the whole time in the house he'd been an emotional wreck, ears twitching so bad, she was sure they'd be sore the next morning. She knew how over the moon he'd been when Ichiko agreed to start the paperwork for the sale that night. 

She also knew Inuyasha never missed class, or ignored her texts. No matter how big a fight they got into, he always answered her the next day once he calmed down. Two weeks was the longest they'd ever gone without talking; even if they didn't meet up they always texted. She hated opening her phone and seeing her [How's the paperwork going?] message left on read for days. 

She pulled out said telecommunications device to check the time and nearly dropped it as three texts all came in at once. 

Inuyasha  
2:07 PM  
[IVE GOT THE FUCKING KEYS]

2:07 PM  
[I also got pizza]

2:07 PM  
[I got one for you too]

Kagome shook her head: two weeks of radio silence and just like that, he decided they were fine again. She stared down at her phone, seriously considering getting snarky with him about how she wasn’t gonna drop everything after he ignored her. But that would be a lie. Besides she wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to celebrate something this monumental with him: she loved him, and would never forgive herself for ruining this moment for him. She shook her head, all thoughts of going to class completely gone. She shot back a quick [omw], turned the key in the ignition, and started out towards her best friend’s new home. 

Pulling up in front of the house Kagome was hit with a strange sense of deja-vu. Two weeks ago she’d pulled up behind his car after spending hours trying to figure out what the hell Inuyasha had meant by “dress smart” and nearly made herself sick with anxiety over what she thought was finally going to be their first actual date. Now, she was nervous that she’d gone too far and things would be awkward between them… and she still didn’t know what dress smart was supposed to mean. She took a deep breath and marched up to the door. 

She hadn’t even knocked before the door swung open and her whole field of vision went blue as Inuyasha wrapped her up a bone crushing hug. Her face was smashed into his hoodie-clad shoulder and she could hear him already talking excitedly about the last two weeks he’d spent filling out paperwork and packing up his apartment before the end of the month. Kagome sighed and leaned into the hug. Yeah, and just like that, they were alright again. 

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+

They spent the next two hours eating pizza and making a list of what still needed to be done. Inuyasha had to get a truck to move his furniture, the lacey curtains needed to be replaced with something heavy to block out the street noise, and Inuyasha wanted to repaint the bathroom. He also had a lengthy shopping list- moving from a studio apartment to a proper house, apparently, meant he was expected to fill it. 

“Most of this shit is gonna have to wait though,” he said as he gathered up the empty pizza boxes and ditched them on the kitchen counter next to the garage door. “Down payment cleaned me out. I’m gonna be eating nothing but ramen for months.”

Kagome came and stood next to him, leaning against the ancient formica countertops; replacing them was very far down on Inuyasha’s to-do list. “You do that anyway,” she teased, “don’t even try and lie to me.” She rested her shoulder against his torso, relishing their physical closeness after so much unexpected time apart. “This is just an excuse for you to do what you want to do anyway without me nagging you about your salt intake.”

He smiled, but then dramatically dropped his head back before looking up at the ceiling. “I’m gonna have to get a roommate. Fuck I hate living with people.” He groaned and pushed away from the counter, going to the fridge and grabbing one of the sodas he’d had delivered with dinner. Kagome felt her heart skip a beat. This was a perfect opportunity! Their time apart had been soul crushing, and while she may never be his wife she would be stupid to pass up the chance to be his roommate. 

“Then don’t,” she said, pleased that her nerves didn’t come through in her voice, “I’ll take the spare room. I’ve been wanting to move out, and we spend all our time together anyway; so-”

“No.”

Her racing heart immediately dropped into her stomach. His tone was firm and final. She looked him over hoping for one of his classic teasing tells like a smirk or a twitch. But he was standing with his back to her and his ears were pinned down to his skull. He said no and he meant it.

“Why not?” she asked, a small knot forming in her throat. 

“It’s not a good idea.”

“Why not? We spend tons of time together. You’ve stayed the night at the shrine a million times and we’ve never had any issues!”

“This is different.”

“Why?’

“It just is!”

She felt tears stinging behind her eyes, and anger bubble up in her chest. He was still facing the refrigerator, refusing to look at her while he was casually breaking her heart.

“Why? I thought we were best friends!”

“Because!”

“‘Because’ isn’t an answer, Inuyasha!”

He smacked his hand into the appliance, shaking it in its little alcove. He turned around and Kagome was more than surprised to see that he didn’t look mad but that his golden eyes were as shiny as hers.

“We can’t live together, okay? Just drop it.”

She crossed her arms under her chest and shifted her weight to rest entirely on her left leg, sticking her hip out at a sharp angle. Maybe it was a dramatic pose, but Inuyasha had never been good with subtlety. She waited. 

Finally his posture slacked and he looked up, talking to the ceiling again. 

“It took me two weeks to get over one night of pretending you were mine. I can’t do that full time and still be a good friend.” 

Kagome felt her arms flop dead at her sides and her mouth hung open, very much giving her the appearance of a dying fish. She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry. She opted for some uncharacteristic language instead.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Inuyasha’s eyes grew comically wide and his ears stood at full attention. In all their years together, Kagome had dropped one, maybe two f-bombs, but dang it this called for it.

“You asked me to play along! You kissed me! Then you ignored me because you didn’t know I’ve been yours for years?” 

She watched as the gears slowly turned in Inuyasha’s head. 

“You’ve been...what?”

“Yours! For years!” She stamped her foot in frustration, “I know you don't like to date and I respected that but, come on! You really think I would have kissed you like that if I didn’t care?”

“I…” he blinked, and she took the opportunity to step into his personal bubble. He turned his head down to look at her and in that moment she appreciated their comical height difference more than ever before. It meant she had his full attention and she could force eye contact for as long as she needed to. 

“Do you really mean th--ah!”

Kagome bounced up onto her toes, smashing her face into his in a less than graceful, and vaguely aggressive, kiss. She grabbed his forlocks to keep her balance, using his shocked, mid-sentence expression to quickly slide her tongue into his mouth, changing the tone of the kiss from frantic to damn near desperate. She felt Inuyasha’s fingers bury themselves in the hair at the back of her head. He gripped it and tugged, shifting her slightly to deepen the kiss and retake control of the situation.

While Inuyasha focused on new ways to make her toes tingle from his kisses, Kagome shifted her attention to how over dressed he was. She released his forlocks and pulled down the zipper of his hoodie, very pleased with herself that they were able to pull it down and off his arms without breaking the kiss at all. Her sweater, though, required Inuyasha to step back so she could pull it up and over her head, her hair instantly becoming fluffier from the small bit of static. She was back in his arms before her top hit the floor, his hands roving across her back, insistent on touching every inch of newly exposed flesh. 

Kagome went for Inuyasha’s pants next, her fingers making quick work of the button and zipper. The primal groan that slid from his lips as her hand pressed against his boxer clad erection sent shivers down her spine. She could have cried from frustration when he stepped away from her saying a soft “Wait, Kagome”. 

“Are you sure this is what you want? If we do this, there’s no going back. Inu-youkai mate for life… and I don't actually have a bed here,” he added with a blush. 

Kagome took a calming breath and considered her surroundings. Inuyasha was in just his grey school t-shirt and red boxers, his pants around his ankles. His lips were swollen from their kisses, his hair was already a wild mess, and she could see the faintest outlines of purple stripes across his cheekbones. He was beautiful and ethereal, and from the position of his ears, clearly nervous as hell. She owed it to him to ask herself the question seriously: was she really prepared to have sex with her best friend, who would then immediately become her fiancee, in his new kitchen? 

Kagome smiled and reached behind her back, unclipping the bra and throwing it somewhere on the floor. She undid her jeans and peeled them off along with her rainbow unicorn print panties and stood naked in front of him. She took a deep breath and fought off the lump in her throat- she had to say this so there was absolutely no chance at another misunderstanding.

“I’m all in if you are. I love you, Inuyasha, and I want you,” a violent blush spread across her cheeks, “preferably now, please.”

She barely had time to register the wide, fang filled grin that split across his face before he was on her again, his hands sliding down her sides and under her, lifting her up to quickly set her on the counter. She gasped at the cold on her bare bottom and Inuyasha took the opportunity to plunder her mouth again. He stood between her knees and she could feel the warmth of him against her core even through his boxers. All too soon he pulled away, taking several deep breaths through his nose and then took two steps back. Kagome watched as he pulled the shirt up and over his head, hesitating slightly before sliding his boxers down to the floor, kicking them away from his feet. His erection was already full and proud; it bounced slightly as it was freed from its cotton enclosure. He stepped back in between her knees and rested his cold nose against hers.

“I’m all in, too,” he said just above a whisper, “I love you and I want you to move in with me and let me fuck you in every room of this house.” 

Kagome laughed so hard, she snorted. It was so typical of Inuyasha to be vulgar in a tender moment, but she also knew she wouldn’t have him any other way. She kissed him again, slow and deep. “Let’s start with this one,” she said, her hand already sliding down his stomach. His muscles twitched under her nails as she made her way south. His own hands found purchase on her breasts, kneading and squeezing them with his right hand while his left traced little patterns across her back as his teeth nipped at her collarbone. She smiled and nuzzled against the side of his face when she realized they were in sync: for each slow pull on his cock, he squeezed her tits, loosening his grip to simply enjoy the weight of it in time with her pushing her hand back towards his hips. Eventually, his hand moved away from her chest, and slipped between her legs. His wide palm rested on her swath of raven curls while his middle finger gently traveled up and down her soft slit. She opened her legs a little wider and he accepted her clear invitation, sliding his longest finger slowly up and inside of her. Greeted by an abundance of warm wetness he quickly added a second finger, swallowing her moans in lazy open kisses. 

She abandoned his erection, instead taking both hands and latching on to his soft ears. Inuyasha’s knees buckled and he choked out a laugh. “Oh, is that how it’s gonna be?”

Kagome barely had a moment to mourn the loss of his fingers before Inuyasha was kneeling on the floor in front of her, his nose suddenly pressing against her clit. His hands were holding her legs so far apart she was sure she would be sore tomorrow, but at that moment she really didn’t care. Her head crashed back against the cabinets, her hands digging into his hair and holding on for some semblance of balance. 

Inuyasha was a man on a mission. His tongue switched from long broad strokes to drawing figures with the tip; then it would disappear as he sucked her clit, letting her feel his fangs brush against the delicate flesh of her sex. She tried to warn him of her approaching orgasm, worried her contracting leg muscles might result in kicking him in the head, but her rushed and mumbled words only pushed him to suck harder. Her orgasm broke over her, sending her foot into a mad twitch as Inuyasha lapped at her release. He finally stood and Kagome’s euphoria was dampered when she saw how angry and red his knees were. 

She pulled him in for another kiss, delighting in the taste of herself on his lips. “You didn’t have to do that ya know,” she said. 

“Worth it,” he replied with a very self satisfied smirk. 

He centered himself in front of her. Taking his erection in his hand he pressed the tip against her slit and slid it slowly up and down, coating it in her release.

“Are you ready?”

She nodded with so much enthusiasm she nearly fell over. 

His first thrust took him half way; Kagome’s muscles stretching to accommodate his girth. With his second their hips met and he held her close as she held her breath from the sudden sting of being so full. While Kagome braced herself by holding onto the edge of the counter, Inuyasha held into her hips and began a slow, steady rhythm. It was good but Kagome knew it wasn’t nearly enough. 

“Tell me what you need, koi,” he said, claiming her earlobe between his teeth and sending shock waves through her reproductive system. After several frustrated whines Kagome was finally able to articulate part of a sentence, “More, I need more!” 

Inuyasha seemed to be thinking, stopping his thrusts to grind his hips against hers. Eventually the small amount of blood still in his brain seemed to come up with a solution. He pulled away from her and she whimpered at the sudden feeling of emptiness. He quickly stepped to the opposite side of the kitchen and looked under the lip of the counter. He shouted “Aha!” as he pulled out a thick slab of wood: a built in cutting board.

He picked Kagome up and swung her around, sitting her ass at the end of the protruding cutting board. She bounced a little - the resulting jiggle in her more fleshy parts nearly caused Inuaysha’s pupils to blow out- but it seemed the board would hold her weight. She was able to actually recline back now against the cabinets and brace herself on her left elbow, leaving her right hand entirely free. She swung her legs up so her calves rested on Inuyasha’s shoulders and nodded that she was ready for him again. 

He wasted no time in sliding home, the new angle shooting stars behind Kagome’s eyes. She licked the pad of her middle finger of her right hand and began rubbing tight circles against her clit. The double visual of disappearing into Kagome while she played with herself was clearly too much for Inuyasha: he clenched his eyes shut and started to thrust harder, mumbling frantically to himself. For all Kagome knew he’d started speaking in tongues- her sole focus was on the fantastic sensation between her legs and the tightening coil in her belly. 

Her orgasm hit her hard and fast. She dug her heels into Inuyasha’s back, pulling him as deep into her spasming cunt as she could. He fell forward, biting into her shoulder to muffle his cries as he emptied into her. If she were in her right mind she would be worried about the hickey he was surely leaving. But she wasn’t in her right mind at that moment, she was positively drunk on the oxytocin swimming through her brain. 

Slowly she felt herself coming back to normal. Inuyasha lifted his mouth from her shoulder and slowly lowered her legs from his shoulders. He stood there, his softening member resting inside her as they simply breathed together, their sweaty foreheads pressed together. Kagome was loath to end the moment, but the post-coital hormone ebb meant her thighs were becoming terribly sore. She kissed Inuyasha’s nose and tapped at his leg with her foot.

“Help me down?” she asked in a gentle tone. 

She couldn't stop herself from shuddering at the strange sensation as he pulled out and stepped back to allow her to slide off the counter. She felt squelchy and sticky and yet wholly content and satisfied. 

“You couldn’t happen to have any towels here yet would you?” she asked, already knowing the answer. 

His ears dropped, “Not yet no. I really wasn’t planning on staying here until the weekend.” 

She reached up and flicked his ear. “None of that, I’m not upset I was just asking. I can wait to get clean until we get back to your apartment.” 

She took a step, intending to gather her scattered clothes, but her legs were not prepared for movement yet and she stumbled. Inuyasha keh'd at her before he scooped her up and carried her bridal style out to the living room. He sat against the far wall and rested her head against his chest while she sat curled up in the gap between his legs. 

“How about we hang out here for a sec, huh?” he asked with a far to proud of himself smile plastered on his face. 

Kagome chose not to humor him with an answer. Instead she nuzzled into his neck, enjoying the afternoon calm. If this was what living together was going to be like, she was really really looking forward to moving in. But at the moment she was in no rush to move, or pack, or do anything other than stay in Inuyasha's embrace. It felt good to be home.


	3. Epilogue: Redecorating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue: Six-ish months later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know this fic was done but sometimes you just need that extra bit of fluff in your life, ya know? Please enjoy this little extra chapter of "what happened next".

Kagome sat with her back against the bathroom wall, her knees pulled up to her chest, staring down at the off-white floor tiles. She examined the grout, the beveled edges of the tiles themselves, anything to keep from looking at the plethora of plastic sticks laid out on the floor; plastic sticks with double blue lines, plus signs, smiley faces, one YES, and one that didn’t beat around the bush and just said PREGNANT in bold capital letters. It didn’t matter if she looked at them or not, it didn’t change the fact she was pregnant. If she was honest she probably didn’t need so many tests, the first one had been perfectly clear. But she had to be  _ sure _ , so after the first plus sign she’d gone back to the store and gotten one of every brand in stock. 

Thank goodness for self-checkout. 

She picked up the test closest to her right foot: a giant smiley face staring up at her. How had this happened? Hadn’t they been careful? Sure, that first time in the kitchen they’d lost their heads. But as soon as she had the feeling back in her legs they went straight to the pharmacy for Plan B. She’d had a totally normal period that month and peed on a stick just to be sure: no stupid smiley faces that time. That temporary lapse in judgment had been good for them though—sort of. As much as they knew they loved each other and wanted to move forward, Inuyasha had been an unexpected voice of reason.

_ “We don’t have to rush this,” _ he’d said the next day.  _ “I loved you yesterday, and I love you today, and I’m gonna love you tomorrow whether you live here or not.”  _

So they decided to take it slow-ish, and they finished out the semester and spent the summer technically living separately and having ‘proper’ official date nights out of the house. Just because they didn’t live together for those five months it didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy christening every room in the house. But when Kagome moved in last month in preparation for the start of their next term they did go a little over the top at suddenly having access to each other whenever they wanted… like when the new couch was delivered... or while they waited for dinner to cook... or when it was 4 o’clock on a Tuesday… 

Well, that certainly answered “how this happened”. Kagome giggled to herself. It was probably the couch—or she secretly hoped it was. If everything was going to come crashing down around her it should be because of the best orgasm of her life. 

She was so focused on that smiley face she completely missed the sound of Inuyasha coming home. His sudden knock on the bathroom door made her screech as she jumped out of her skin.

“Babe? Are you okay?” Inuyasha asked from his side of the door.

“Ummm,” Kagome suddenly felt herself panicking. She’d spent so long thinking about  _ how _ it happened she never made it to the  _ what now _ part of her train of thought. Was she okay? Was this okay? When she didn’t answer, Inuyasha opened the door and walked right in, privacy no longer at the top of his list of concerns. 

“Kags are you—oh fuck.”

He stopped, one hand still on the door knob. His amber eyes looked at each test in turn, their entirely unsubtle messages making the situation immediately clear to him. When he finally made it to the end of the line and looked at Kagome she couldn’t help but curl in on herself a little more. He didn’t look angry but he was clearly in shock, his eyes wide and his hand falling limply away from the doorknob. 

Kagome took a deep breath and closed her eyes, bracing for whatever he was going to say next. But suddenly the wind was partially knocked out of her. She opened her eyes to a sea of white hair, Inuyasha’s arms wrapped tightly around her, the momentum from his sudden, vaguely crushing embrace, compressing her chest between him and the bathroom wall. When she coughed and sputtered he pulled back just as fast, dropping ungracefully on his ass in front of her. His hands were clutching her shoulders, keeping her centered directly in front of him. After a small eternity he finally spoke. “Are you sure?”

She couldn’t help it- she snorted out a small laugh. “Six tests later, yeah, I’m sure.” 

He kept one hand on her shoulder, but twisted his torso around to pick up the test closest to him: two dark blue lines. She watched him as he silently stared at the test, his ears twitching like mad. Finally he looked at her again and she felt her breath catch. He’d never looked at her like that before and it set a whole  kaleidoscope of butterflies loose in her belly. The smile that spread across his face was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and his amber eyes seemed to actually glow. He pulled her into another bone crushing hug- though slightly less intense than the last one. He held her against him long enough for her to actually return the hug this time, his warmth calming her overtaxed nerves slightly. When he spoke it was so soft she almost didn’t hear him.

“We’re going to have a baby.”

Kagome took a deep, slightly wavering breath, “You aren’t mad?” 

He pushed her arms length away just as suddenly as he’d pulled her in. She was going to get sea sick from this conversation. 

“How could I be mad!? Are,” his ears dropped and she felt his whole body go limp for a moment, “are you not happy?” 

Now that the question had been asked out loud Kagome felt she knew the answer in her whole soul: “Of course I’m happy!” Her anxiety was still riding high though and she dropped her chin down to her chest. “But this… we said we were going to take it slow.” 

Inuyasha took her chin in his hand and gently pulled her face up to look at him again. “It’s sooner than we planned, but I can’t pretend for a second that I’m not happy about this.” 

She broke. Suddenly all the mixed emotions, the stress, and the joy came rushing out of her at the same time. She launched herself forward, her arms wrapping tightly around Inuyasha’s neck. He held her gently in his lap until she calmed down enough to finally sit down next to him, shoulder to shoulder. He held her hand, taking the test from her and putting it on the floor with the others. 

“I have one question though,” he said. 

She sniffled a little, “What’s that?”

“Did you really pee on all of these today?”

Kagome blinked at him, her nose crinkling. “Did I what?”

He gestured to the tests, “All of these! Did you test before and not tell me or..?”

“I’m a week late but I didn’t want to stress you out for nothing,” she said with a shrug. “I took them today.”

“Wow.”

“Wow what?”

He watched as he fought back a giggle, “Now I know why you have to pause the movie so much.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s a lot of pee! I’m just saying,” at this point he was losing his battle, his shoulders shaking with the effort of not laughing at her. 

She smacked his chest, “This is serious! We find out we’re pregnant and that’s all you can think to ask me!?” 

His smile grew impossibly wider, “You can’t be mad at me—you’re having my baby.”

Kagome couldn’t stop herself from smiling even if she wanted to. “I am. I’m having your baby.”

Inuyasha leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss: it was soft but with too much teeth as he failed at keeping his smile in check. “Say it, please, say it so it’s real,” he whispered.

“Inuyasha, I’m pregnant.”

As she said it there was no hesitation, no worry, no anxiety. Maybe it wasn’t exactly what they planned, but this baby was already so loved and so cherished that they knew they were going to be just fine.


End file.
